"We were in this same position last year against Madison Central," Knights Coach Chelsea Chowning said. "I think our girls were really excited and ready for the challenge, so it's disappointing to come up short.

"We only scored three points in the fourth quarter and, in a game of this magnitude, that's not going to win many games. But we were still in it late. ... We were attacking the basket since we weren't shooting well from the outside, but we weren't able to get to the free-throw line, and that led to some runouts for them."

Central never trailed en route to a 22-19 halftime lead.

Catholic took its first lead, 30-29, on Botkin's bucket with 1:18 left in the third quarter.

Her free throw with 5:38 left in the fourth gave Catholic a 33-30 lead — and its last points of the night.

"We kind of took control of the game," said Brooks, a 5-foot-5 junior. "Our defense, we got a lot of steals. Chrystal Miller got the biggest steal. We really needed that to push us ahead."